Framework

Issue tree

The question it answers

When sales or profit fall for no clear reason, how should a project team break the problem into its possible causes and decide which hypotheses to test first?

Origin
Minto, 2009
Diagram type
Process by phase
Level of analysis
Team
Topics
Business consultingStrategy & leadership
Clipboard with a glass checklist panel, icon for consulting

Diagram

Issue tree

  1. Governing question
  2. One sentence, one decision
  3. Branch (MECE)
  4. Level-1 drivers
  5. Level-2 sub-drivers
  6. Test
  7. One hypothesis per leaf
  8. Data and analysis needed
  9. Prioritise
  10. Prune by impact and evidence
  11. State the root cause

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Minto, B. (2009) The pyramid principle: logic in writing and thinking. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.No DOISource page